纳米电催化剂在燃料电池、电分析化学、电合成等领域都有着重要的应用。但是，由于纳米合成产物的均一度往往不够高，而且传统电化学方法只能检测到众多纳米电催化剂的平均性能，所以纳米电催化剂的筛选和机理研究一直非常困难。该项目将开发一种超高灵敏度的电子转移检测技术，并以此对单个纳米粒子的电催化性能进行研究。该检测技术集成了两种先进技术——荧光单分子技术和超微电极技术，从而开发出一种超高灵敏度的、通用的电子转移检测技术，原理上可以检测到单个电子的转移。利用该原创技术，将重点研究单个纳米粒子的形状、尺寸、组成、晶面等性质对其电催化性能的影响，即 “构-效”关系。在此基础上，还将研究单个纳米粒子尺度下的催化反应机理，以及进行一系列催化剂筛选方面的研究。最终，该项目将以原创技术的开发为基础，探索和研究一些（光）电化学领域的前沿难题。

Electro-catalyst is widely applied in the fields of fuel cells, electro-analysis and electro-synthesis. However, the product from most of nano-synthesis methods usually has low productivity and purity, while traditional electrochemical methods only can measure the average performance of many nano-catalysts. Then it is difficult for the traditional electrochemical methods to find the high performance catalysts of low population, and to understand the catalytic mechanism in nano-scale. In this project, we will invent an ultrasensitive detection technology of electron transfer, and use this advanced technology to study the electro-catalytic performance of single nanoparticles. In this technology, two advanced techniques including single molecule fluorescence technique and ultra-microelectrode technique are integrated together to achieve a high sensitivity and usability. Based on this technology, the effect of shape, size and structure on the electro-catalytic performance and the reaction mechanism will be studied at the single nanoparticle level. In addition, the catalytic mechanism in nano-scale will be studied, and some higher performance catalysts are possible to be filtered out during the research. As a result, this project will discover and study the frontier scientific problems in (photo-) electrochemistry based on the development of the novel technology.